Skov Notebook

Curiosity, Patience, and Life on Mars

In which I briefly geek out about NASA and outer space, and then proceed to compare the Curiosity Rover’s exploration of Mars to writing a novel.

Most epic xkcd strip ever. The 4th panel, which you’ll need to click through to see, is so massive I couldn’t find the edges.

That, by the way, is how I like stories to be. Where you can’t see the edges to the world they inhabit.

(via xkcd: Click and Drag)

minimalmac:

Love it. Available at Engineer Brand

John Cleese On The Creative Process

Cleese talks mostly about allowing yourself the time and space to really work through the creative process. It reminds me of one of my professors in college, who said to me when I was rushing through an exercise (imagine this said with a thick Peruvian accent):

“Kid, you cannot cook without fire! When you make the bread, you cannot take it out of the oven too soon or it will fall.”

I’m pretty sure what she meant was, “Don’t just throw ideas out there half-baked.” Because everything has its own timetable and if you rush, it might well suffer. We all dread the malais of procrastination, but often you have to be patient with yourself and with the work. This is, unfortunately, sometimes in direct opposition to being a creative professional, where there are deadlines and timetables of a more practical nature. I think every artist needs to decide for themselves how they want to handle that conflict.

Cleese also talks about accessing that deep sense of play that is essential to the process, and how Einstein had creative flashes of imagery for an idea before he was able to logically construct or articulate it. It’s a great article. You should read it.

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